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“Don’t you be gettin’ in any fights, man,” Kevin told him. Andrea flinched at his bad grammar. “If you get suspended, you won’t be able to wrestle.”

“And we really need you,” Jim added as he shoved a French fry in his mouth. “You’re our only hope at the championship.”

“I don’t want to fight him,” Josh explained. “I just want to know what his problem is.”

“So Kevin, who are you going to take to the homecoming dance?” Andrea asked.

She was obviously trying to steer the conversation away from Bryan and the possibility of a brawl. The plan worked. Tensions eased and idle conversation followed. Kevin complained that he wasn’t sure which girl he should ask to the dance. Jim raved about how he knew Andrea would be elected queen. Andrea filled the guys in on Josh and Rosa. Josh’s head was really pounding again, so he didn’t contribute much to the conversation. Instead, he poked his plastic spoon around in his pudding and wished there was a way to mute the noisy cafeteria. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a red-faced Elena heading in his general direction, but thought little of it until she was hovering over his head, her eyes wild with barely contained fury.

“I have a few things to say to you, Joshua!” Elena declared in a high-pitched shriek that made Josh’s ears ring. “I’d like to speak to you in private.”

Josh grunted in exasperation. “Listen, Elena. If you have something to say, then say it here. I’m not moving.”

If it were physically possible for steam to come out of a girl’s ears, it would have happened at that moment. Elena had to hold her breath and close her eyes for a minute before she could continue. She was that furious. Her silver butterfly earrings seemed to shutter in empathy for their owner’s indignation.

“Fine!” She screamed, her voice rising in volume and pitch. “I know all about the other girls, Josh. All three of them! I guess it wasn’t enough to dump me! You had to humiliate me even more by cheating on me?”

“I never said we were exclusive,” Josh defended himself. “It isn’t my fault if you assumed we were.”

“You know very well that I considered you my boyfriend!” Elena hissed. “And do you know what’s even worse? From the minute she got here, that bitch Nadine has done nothing but rant to the whole school about how you broke her heart. Everyone knows you were dating us both at the same time. How could you even consider that skinny little airhead when you had someone like me?” She didn’t give Josh the opportunity to reply before charging on.  “And I don’t even have to see that private school girl to know what she must be like. Those Catholic school girls are all the same.”

Jim and Kevin were trying desperately to conceal their snickers, not wanting Elena’s rage turned on them. Andrea had no such qualms and was openly laughing even as a purple vein in Elena’s forehead throbbed and threatened to burst. The kids at the surrounding tables were gaping at the awkward scene.  Some of them had already gotten up to spread the word. Josh could only hope the gossip didn’t make it back to Rosa before he had a chance to do some damage control.

“I know about Jazz too!” Elena continued. “I know about all of them! I know every single disgusting detail!”

“And where are you getting your information?” Josh asked her. “Did you hire a private investigator to follow me or did you just tap my phone?”

Elena crossed her arms, looking smug. “I have my ways of finding things out,” she boasted.

“Well, Elena, congratulations. You did your homework and you know it all,” Josh told her. “Now, if that’s all you have to say, I’d like to finish my lunch in peace.”

“Don’t you dare try to brush me off!” Elena fumed. “You crossed the wrong girl when you crossed me. You’re going to pay big time. Your social standing in this school is over!”

With that declaration, and a toss of her long tawny hair, Elena turned on her heel, and stomped away. Josh thought the worst of the afternoon was over, but no sooner had Elena vanished through the cafeteria doors, then a teary-eyed Nadine appeared. It was almost as if she had been waiting in line for her turn to scream at him. Josh moaned and put his throbbing head in his hands.

“How could you, Josh?” Nadine sobbed, and wiped away a tear from her red-rimmed eyes. Her breath came in short gasps, but Josh thought it had more to do with her ridiculously tight shirt than her current state of minor hysteria. “Did you care about me at all? Three other girls? I swear, Josh, I could just kill you!”

She stalked away, her black ponytail bobbing behind her. At least her speech hadn’t been as long as Elena’s, though her squeaky Minnie Mouse voice was much more grating.

“Aren’t too popular with the ladies today, are you Josh?” Jim teased. His hazel eyes glittered with amusement.

Josh shrugged and toyed with his hoagie. All the drama had caused him to completely lose his appetite. He had no desire to eat anymore, so he pushed the tray aside. It was just as well; he had pictures to take for the yearbook, anyway.

“Josh, my man, you have been busy!” Kevin exclaimed, and slapped him hard on the back. “How come you get all the hot girls? You need to share the riches, man! I don’t know about the other two, but Elena is smokin’ hot and that new girl Nadine has the biggest hooters I’ve ever seen! I’d bang that in a minute!”

“You’re such a pig!” Andrea exclaimed, and tossed one of Jim’s French fries at him.

Kevin was unfazed. “Oink, oink, baby.”

“They’re really not that great,” Josh told him. “Not if you get to know them.”

“You’re kidding right?” Kevin said. “You must be! Oh man, what I wouldn’t give for a piece of Elena.”

“She’s a snob,” Andrea said and crinkled her nose in distaste.

“I know that. But I’d just slap her around a little, and she’d be cured of that.”

“Kevin, I swear you’re the biggest jerk in the school!” Andrea said, only half-joking.

Kevin winked a blue eye at her. He knew he got under Andrea’s skin, and Josh thought he secretly enjoyed antagonizing her. Jim remained silent and neutral, and concentrated on pulling the soggy lettuce out of his hoagie while Andrea glared at Kevin. She finally looked away and shook her head in disgust when he stuck out his tongue, still covered in half-chewed food.  That was Kevin. Mr. Maturity.

Josh also avoided getting involved in his friends’ tiff. Instead, he pulled his bottle of pain killers out of his backpack with trembling hands. He knew Andrea was justified in the dirty look she was shooting him. He really was taking them more than he should. But for some reason, he couldn’t get rid of his migraine. And he had too much to do with yearbook shoots and wrestling practice to be slowed down by a stupid headache.

After he swallowed the pills, washing them down with a few sips of cola, he noticed a strange white residue on his fingers that he had never seen before. He brushed it off on his jeans; figuring one of them had just broken apart. After all, his backpack got banged around quite a bit, and the bottle always wound up on the bottom of the bag.  He forgot all about it when Kevin leaned over and tousled his hair, being as rough as possible, and sending a shooting pain from Josh’s temples to his neck.

“Knock it off, man!” Josh complained, and shoved Kevin’s hand away.

“Aww, what’s the matter, Josh?” Kevin scoffed. “Does the poor baby have a headache again?”

“Lay off him, Kevin!” Jim said, sounding a little disgusted. “You’re really being an ass today!”

“Geez, no one can take a joke around here.” Kevin sulked. “I was just kiddin’ around.”

“Whatever,” Josh said, and drained the last few drops of his soda. He picked up his backpack and stood from the table. “I’ve got to go take some pictures of the cheerleaders for the yearbook. I’ll see you guys at practice.”

“So long,” Kevin said as Josh strode away.

The hallway was deserted as Josh made his way to his locker. Half of the student body was in the cafeteria, and the other half remained in class. Josh could hear one of the teachers lecturing about World War II as he spun the combination and pulled open his locker. He unzipped his bag and took out his digital camera. Then he tossed the bag inside the locker and slammed it shut. He double-checked that the batteries were fully charged before making his way to the auditorium and the waiting cheerleaders, all the while wondering how Elena and Nadine had found out about the other two girls
.

Josh was heading to the gym to meet the guys for wrestling practice when a stabbing pain shot through his stomach. It was so intense that he stopped short, gasping for breath, and doubled over. The pain passed after a few seconds, but was quickly replaced by an even more horrendous wave of nausea. He flew into the nearest men’s room which was only a few feet away. Still, he barely made it there in time. He was fairly certain that everything he had eaten for the past week made a reappearance as he hung his head over the porcelain bowl.

When it was finally over and his stomach was empty, Josh closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the cool metal of the stall, waiting for his heartbeat to return to normal. He took a few shaky breaths, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. His head was pounding in time with the steady ache in his gut, but Josh forced himself to his feet, however unsteadily. He couldn’t miss the first wrestling practice of the year. Not if he expected to be named captain of the varsity team, something that had been his main goal since freshman year.

Josh walked over to the sinks and splashed some water onto his peaked face. The paper towel dispenser buzzed as he waved his hand past the sensor. He pulled the stiff sheet free with trembling fingers and dried his face off. Then he dragged himself down the hallway and into the locker room where Kevin and Jim were waiting for him. They were already dressed in their red and white one-piece singlets. The tight uniforms showed off every ripple and sinew of the muscular teens.

“Hey, Josh!” Jim called as Josh slipped out of his jeans. “I think you might have made an enemy.”

“Yeah.” Kevin agreed. “That jerk Bryan Grant has been dogging on you since he got here.”

Josh felt his face flush. “What do you mean? I barely know him. What’s that guy’s problem anyway?”

“I don’t know, but you better watch your back,” Jim said, running a hand nervously through his hair. “He’s been telling everyone he’s going to kick your ass, both on and off the mat.”

“Is that so?” Josh demanded. “Well, we’ll just see about that.”

Josh had just finished pulling on his uniform. He shoved his backpack and his street clothes into one of the lockers before slamming it shut, not even bothering to lock it. He stormed out into the gymnasium, with Kevin and Jim fast on his heels. Despite the fact that Josh still felt awful, or maybe because of it, he was in no mood to deal with Bryan and his attitude. He was taking things too far, and Josh planned to set him straight, one way or the other.

The gym was laid out with bright red mats that covered most of the room. A few of the younger team members were already messing around, taking turns tackling each other as they waited for the coach to arrive. Josh noticed Bryan right away. He was sitting alone on the bleachers with his arms crossed and an angry scowl on his face. Josh didn’t pause for a second before heading in his direction.

“Hey man!” Kevin called to him. “Remember, no fighting on school grounds. If you get suspended, the whole team is gonna suffer!”

Josh knew Kevin was right. The smart thing to do would be to ignore Bryan and walk away. He wasn’t even sure he could take Bryan down in a real fight since he was almost twice his size. Yet, despite his bulk, Bryan couldn’t wrestle half as well. Besides, Josh was too angry, too frustrated to let it go. It took all his self-control to resist the unsportsmanlike urge to hit Bryan while his back was turned. Instead, with a testosterone driven burst of courage, he walked up behind the larger boy and tapped him roughly on the shoulder, taking a second to notice he barely had any neck at all.

Bryan turned to face him with an angry sneer, hardly surprised to see Josh standing there. He crossed his arms over his bulging chest. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Mr. Hot Shit Hanover himself,” Bryan said bitterly.

“What’s with you, buddy?” Josh asked him. “Do you have something you want to say to me?”

“Yeah, I have something I want to say, rich boy!” Bryan told him, his voice belligerent. “You make me want to puke.”

“What did I ever do to you?” Josh demanded.

“You were born, loser!”

Bryan stepped down from the bleachers and stood in front of Josh, but made no move to attack. It seemed like he was all talk and no action. Josh was getting tired of playing guessing games, and he certainly wasn’t going to let Bryan coerce him into throwing the first punch, no matter how tempting it was.

“I’m not going to stand here and exchange insults with you,” Josh told him, somehow managing to maintain his composure in spite the fact that he was spitting mad. “If you’re not going to be straight with me and tell me what your problem is, I’m leaving.”

“Go ahead and walk away like the little wuss you are, rich boy,” Bryan called to Josh’s retreating back. “I guess you don’t have the nerve to face a man. You can only mess with innocent girls, like my sister!”

Josh stopped dead in his tracks, honestly shocked. He whipped back around to see Bryan had rolled his hands into fists at his side. His teeth were barred in obvious fury. Everyone else in the gym had grown quiet, focusing on the two boys. The tension was growing between them until it was an almost physical thing. Josh felt his muscles tightening, preparing for what seemed like an inevitable fight.